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Spent 45 minutes last Monday hunting a crash that turned out to be a 3 cent chip
Ran my router table all morning and it kept stalling out mid cut, so I tore apart the control box twice and tested every wire before spotting a tiny crack on one driver chip. Of course I don't have a spare and the supplier wants $18 for a whole new board, so now the machine sits dead until Tuesday. Has anyone here soldered a replacement chip yourself or do you just eat the cost on a new board every time?
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hannahs451d ago
That tiny crack on the driver chip has burned me too, and I've had good luck just swapping the chip instead of buying a whole board. If you can read the number off the old one, hit up Digikey or Mouser for a few spares at a buck or two each, then use a solder sucker and some flux to pull the dead one and drop the new one in. For a 3 cent part it's worth keeping a handful on the shelf so a Tuesday wait never happens again.
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green.grant1d ago
Man, this is the same story as everything else in life, the cheap little part that saves you always seems like a waste until the day it isn't. Like keeping a spare fuse or a roll of tape around, you never pat yourself on the back for it until something dies on a Sunday night. @hannahs45 has the right idea, a few spares in a drawer beats waiting on shipping every time.
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